


reincarnated

by stxvetony



Series: stony one-shots [5]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Angst, M/M, One Shot, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-25
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-11-05 17:26:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17923178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stxvetony/pseuds/stxvetony
Summary: in a world where reincarnation and immortality is normal, steve and tony find themselves. one can only be reincarnated after their living memory is erased, and here, tony and steve fall in love, and steve promises to never forget tony. until tony wakes up reincarnated again.





	reincarnated

**Author's Note:**

> based off the prompt on writing.prompt.s on instagram :
> 
> you live in a world where reincarnation is common and expected, but it can’t happen unless your past life has faded from living memory. last time you were alive, you fell in love with an immortal who swore they would never forget you. 
> 
> ~ you have just been reincarnated ~

 

In a world much different than ours, immortals, reincarnation, and fantasy ran rampant across the world, neither shrouded in mystery nor rejected by society. Rather these elements were regarded as the norm, where the concept of reincarnation laid down the very core of humanity. 

Despite the norm, reincarnation was still a tricky, and often impossible process. One could only be reincarnated if your past life had faded from the memories of the living, so when one came back reincarnated, only you were the only one who could remember what might have happened before. 

It was because of this that many people decided to do anything but become famous, as these people were to be remembered for eternity, simply because they wished to be reincarnated. 

However, it was also those that were reincarnated multiple times, where each life is important, where the person was considered to be pure, could they choose to become someone immortal, a curse and a blessing some presumed. 

It was in this type of world that Tony Stark, a person dreading becoming immortal, as he lived his 9th reincarnation, met one Steve Rogers, a relatively young immortal at only 100 years. Tony decided that Steve could be his back up plan, his salvation if his attempts at making his current life meaningless, and full of bad impacts as possible. 

Tony wasn’t necessarily attempting to fall in love with Steve, but well, it was so hard not to lose himself in those blue eyes of his, so hard not to revel in his embraces. 

When Tony was lying on his deathbed, Steve crying next to him, they made a promise to each other that Steve would never forget Tony, perhaps in part because of their love, but moreover, simply so Steve could fulfill his love’s last dying wish, to never be forgotten so he could die peacefully, without being cursed with immortality. 

When Tony closed his eyes, he smiled in peace, welcoming the darkness, and then, the light at the end. 

He trusted that Steve wouldn’t break his promise. 

But then again, people are indeed disappointing, and when Tony opened his eyes again, reincarnated, he decided he would simply to do anything to be a bad person, someone who didn’t deserve immortality, and all the while, make himself forget about Steve as well. 

 

. . . 

 

Tony thought he was doing perfectly fine on his way to not becoming immortal. Being born to Howard Stark, meaning that he was to endure constant abuse throughout his childhood somehow meant that Tony really didn’t even have to try to make himself a bad person, he already was one. 

Everyone knew Tony Stark this time, unlike all his previous reincarnations, knew him for being the head of Stark Industries, sure, but also knew him for his promiscuous activities, how had had literally hundreds of sex taps on the internet. 

And Tony was perfectly fine with that, happy even, because being famous meant an extra layer of security against being immortal. And then, he was kidnapped in Afghanistan, and became Iron Man. Of course, he had to go fuck everything up because of his conscious and decide to become some sort of superhero saving people. But he figured that all his previous actions were enough to be already crossed off immortality, and well, the fact that he was famous didn’t hurt either. 

It didn’t that matter that he had yet to meet Steve or see what he was up to. Tony had purposefully made JARVIS block the servers to prevent Tony from checking up on Steve, he didn’t want to hurt himself more, after all. 

So Tony kept far away from the immortal that broke his heart, but perhaps more importantly, broke his promise to Tony. He was doing fine with staying away until Nick Fury had to ruin everything with the Avengers Initiative. 

 

. . .

 

Tony saw Steve there standing right next to him, and all of sudden, he couldn’t breathe. He thought he had left that chapter of his life behind him, that some 40 years of being alive in this life would erase the memory, or at least subdue the pain that came along with it, but it seemed as if Steve continued to affect him. 

Steve gave him a nod. “Mr. Stark.”

Tony swallowed down his pain and smiled softly, not that Steve could see it of course. “Captain.”

Later, it was all Tony could do to avoid Steve at all possible costs, slinking his way back to the lab, remembering bitterly that once upon a time, Steve knew the code to another lab.  

He was too busy attempting to drown himself in making upgrades to his suit when he looked up after hearing a knock to see Steve smiling softly, causing Tony to immediately stiffen at the mere sight of him. 

“Capsicle. So nice to see you again! What can I do for you?” Tony quickly pulled up an impassive mask, one designed to ensure that Steve would never see the momentary hurt that crossed over him 

“Hey, Tony.”

Tony didn’t remember much about that conversation later, he learned to block out everything relating to Steve, it was for his own good after all. 

And then Steve and he got into an argument, and it was all Tony could do not to cry. 

_ “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off, what are you?” _

_ “Genius, Billionaire, Playboy Philanthropist.” _

_ But also anything but. Your love. Your soulmate. I miss you.  _

 

. . .

 

In all honesty, Tony didn’t remember much of this life, when it came down to it. Sure, it was arguably his most prolific life, he probably did the most for people, made the most impact during this life. And sure, he was a superhero, he saved people, saved the world when Thanos came around. But when it came down to it, for himself, it was anything but meaningful. His other lives may have been low profile, but they were so much _happier_.  They weren’t burdened by responsibilities, the fear of immortality, the problem of fucking Steve Rogers tainting everything. He could live in those lives. And in this life, well, he was broken, and he hoped to god that maybe after, he could live again, somewhere beyond. 

If Tony had stayed longer, he might have found out that Steve forgot him only due to having his memories erased after sleeping in the ice for some 70 years. Perhaps he and Steve could have been together for eternity. That certainly sounded like a fairy tale ending, didn’t it?

But fairy tale endings never occur in reality. In reality, Tony and Steve are doomed to rotate around each other like magnets, but can never truly touch either. 

In the beginning, there was Tony. In the beginning, there was Steve. And somewhere along the way, they found themselves together, the happiest they had been. But in the end, there was just Tony. And in the end, there was just Steve. Two people, doomed from the very beginning to never be together. 

**Author's Note:**

> can you tell i gave up on fleshing this out at the end ~ i'm sorry and thanks so much for reading :) kudos and comments are greatly appreciated!
> 
> [say hi on tumblr](https://stxvetony.tumblr.com/)


End file.
